Another option to consider is a standard SNMP tool like LibreNMS. We use Monit and LibreNMS to monitor our infrastructure - both Linux and Windows servers - with great success. LibreNMs has traditional alerting (email, Slack, Pager Duty, etc), and you can create custom alert rules if needed (host has been down for x days).
Just food for thought… -Ron > On Nov 23, 2023, at 5:23 AM, Graham Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks to you both - unfortunately the clients are all Windows desktops. > I thought about WSL or even quemu etc but it sounds very messy at scale and > I'd need to ensure that software was reliable too. > Our student users are all developers who need Virtualbox, certainly WSL2 > would > likely conflict. It's a shame there's no native Windows port of Monit. Maybe > there > could be a Cygwin solution. > > Timetabling complexity means sometimes small groups may be in larger capacity > rooms > but then if there's an exam, student turnout is close to full and nearly > everything is needed. > One or two machines down is something we can absorb, but I'm trying to avoid > surprises > of multiple outages at the same time. > > I think a central Monit instance with a higher than 64 cycle limit would work > for me. > Maybe I can change it in the source and recompile.. although that may have > other implications! > > Many thanks, > > Graham > > > > On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 at 09:39, Rory Toma <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> Worst case, use WSL on windows to run monit. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Lutz Mader >> Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2023 4:37 AM >> To: This is the general mailing list for monit <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> >> Subject: Re: Monitoring Desktops >> >> Hello Graham, >> and MacOS systems are supported also. >> Lutz >> >> is M/Monit to monitor all systems centrally. >> >> Am 23.11.23 um 09:28 schrieb Lutz Mader: >> > Hello Graham, >> > as long as the desktop systems are Linux systems, the simple answer >> > here is M/Monit to monitor all systems centrally. >> > >> >> Any ideas or strategies? >> > >> > On the other hand, I use a similar approach to yours to monitor >> > applications on other systems (I check the availability of a port) to >> > start central applications. But I need an alert after 20 minutes, or >> > wait only 50 minutes for the other systems. >> > >> >> I'm finding the 64 cycle limit a bit of a struggle. What I'm trying >> >> to achieve is to get an alert if a machine hasn't been seen >> >> responding to pings for about 3 to 4 days. >> > >> > Nice to see that you have enough systems to go several days without one. >> > >> > Sorry, I use a similar approach, >> > Lutz >> > >> > >> > Am 22.11.23 um 18:50 schrieb Graham Smith: >> >> Hi, >> >> >> >> Has anybody successfully used Monit to alert on desktop outages? We >> >> have a number of desktops in student labs (University) on a campus. >> >> Although used heavily, we could legitimately find one pc in the >> >> corner of a room which simply has been unplugged for a day or two but >> >> is actually fully functional. >> >> >> >> I'm finding the 64 cycle limit a bit of a struggle. What I'm trying >> >> to achieve is to get an alert if a machine hasn't been seen >> >> responding to pings for about 3 to 4 days. >> >> After that, it's probably a machine that warrants some investigation >> >> for a potential failure. >> >> >> >> Are there any strategies I could consider? >> >> >> >> Currently I'm just using lines in a file in the monit conf.d similar to: >> >> >> >> check host Room4-36 with address 10.10.4.36 >> >> >> >> if failed icmp type echo count 1 with timeout 1 second for 64 >> >> cycles then alert >> >> else if succeeded for 64 cycles then alert >> >> >> >> The main monitrc cycle I'd want to check every 5 to 10 mins or so... >> >> but because of the cycles 64 limit I'm having to increase that to >> >> more than I'd like. >> >> If I increase it to say an hour, a machine could be turned on the off >> >> again within that window and I'd not be aware. >> >> >> >> Any ideas or strategies? >> >> >> >> Kind regards, >> >> >> >> Graham Smith >> >> >> > >> >> >> >>
